Exhaustion
by Fibre Optic
Summary: In which Julia is tired, and Tobey gets the better room.


_Set after Tobey threatens Dino, turning slightly au and imagining that instead of being hit by the truck, they really had made it back to a hotel. I hope you like it!_

* * *

When she'd suggested they find a place to stay, it hadn't been an invitation.

Tobey had slept less than three hours over the past two days – at this point, it was self-preservation that had her insisting they pull into the parking lot of the nearest motel.

It was a seedy place with a cracked window at the front and no lights to illuminate the parking lot. This seemed to placate Tobey. He only glanced back at the car once as they walked inside, and his doe-eyed expression made Julia roll her eyes.

The owner was a balding man with a disinterested demeanor but eyes that seemed to leer, and Julia shifted awkwardly under his gaze. Her feet were sore and her back hurt from hours in a car seat, but she was not above standing a little straighter at Tobey's side rather than shrinking behind him.

"Two rooms?" the man inquired, looking between them. It wasn't quite suspicion, but it wasn't far off it.

"We haven't shared a room since we were ten," Julia said quickly. "Mum used to think we fought a lot then – she should see us now!"

Tobey remained silent, but she could see the grin tugging at his lips as he dropped some bills on the counter and took two small keycards in exchange. He handed her one as they thanked the Creep at the Till and walked down the corridor.

"So what, we're siblings now?"

Julia shrugged one shoulder, smiling impishly up at him. "You can thank me later for _that_ little stroke of genius."

"You've got a talent for thinking on your feet, I'll give you that."

She preened a little, tossing her hair and bumping her shoulder against Tobey's arm. He glanced down, already grinning that special grin she'd come to know. She had first noticed it back in the desert, when she'd played chicken with the hummer, and now it was becoming a trend; all she had to do was smile or say something with just the right amount of humour, and he'd turn the grin on her.

"You think you're so cute," he teased, reaching out and ruffling her hair.

"Please. I _know_ that I'm cute," Julia sniffed, ducking out of his reach and earning one of those low chuckles that always managed feel more genuine that most words that fall from his mouth.

Their rooms were directly across from each other, yet it somehow still felt very far after two days of near constant contact.

They lingered awkwardly outside their doors for a moment, and she found herself wondering if he was thinking it, too.

"Be ready for 5am," he said finally. "We're gonna get out of here before the sun is up."

Julia made a face, a sarcastic response on the tip of her tongue, but whatever she was going to say died in her throat when she looked at him.

His eyes gleamed in that way they always seemed to, sparkling with unspoken amusement and contrasting starkly with the dark mood he wore like a uniform. She wondered then, at what point in his life had hostility become his go-to nature. How many people had screwed him over and turned on him before he'd stopped trusting people?

She realised a beat too late that she was staring at him, which meant that he had probably noticed too. However, where he seemed vaguely curious, she became flustered. "Yes, okay. 5 it is," she said, and fumbled to open her door before she could get drawn into his stupid eyes again.

Julia had no intentions of setting an alarm for 5am. She had just spent the better part of two days in a car. Her body ached, her head felt muzzy, and if she could fall asleep, she had no plans to interrupt it. If he was getting up at 5, she felt confident he wouldn't leave without her.

The room was tiny and cramped, but it had a shower and for that she was eternally grateful. Her mood was only slightly dampened when, post-shower, she realised she had packed a suitcase full of clothes but hadn't thought to bring a single pair of pyjamas.

And there was one other downside, she discovered, after deciding to just sleep in her shirt and underwear: the couple next-door.

She paused at first to listen – there was some giggling, followed by a deeper male voice, and then the familiar sound of bedsprings bouncing.

"Oh, for fuck sake," she muttered, tugging back the covers and climbing into bed.

The bed felt small and cold when she finally wriggled in, the sheets tucked too tight in the sides in that way that motel room beds always are. She leaned over to switch off the bedside lamp, and lay there in darkness.

Sleep should have come easy. A few hours leaning against a car door didn't really count as proper rest, in her book, and that's all she had done for the past two days. Yet as she lay there, staring at first the wall, then the ceiling, then the edge of the bedside table, she realised sleep wasn't going to come easily.

The AC was on, the hum barely audible over the bouncing of next-door's bedsprings. She scowled, and wondered if Tobey could hear them from across the hall.

He'd probably swap rooms with her, if she asked. Unless he was already asleep, which was a perfectly likely option. He'd slept even less than she had, after all. She wouldn't blame him if he'd just collapsed on the bed as soon as he got in.

She turned on her side and stared at the wall again. Moonlight filtered in through the net curtains, just enough to illuminate the peeling floral wallpaper. She occupied herself for a short while, imagining different patterns in the design, before a sudden bang against the far wall startled her into sitting up.

The bang happened again – and again – and she realised it was the headboard from next-door, repeatedly hitting the wall. A loud, pleasured wail confirmed it.

Annoyed, she scowled at the wall. As if in retaliation, the headboard banged against it louder.

Julia huffed, throwing the sheets off and planting her feet on the floor. Tobey had better be awake, she decided, because she was not sleeping next to that any longer.

She didn't pull her jeans back on, opting instead to just tug her shirt down a little more over her thighs and dart across the hall before anyone could see.

She rapped twice on Tobey's door, glancing around the hallway warily. Nobody was around, and the headboard knocking, while not quite as loud, was still audible in the hallway. At least he wouldn't think she was making it up, she supposed.

The door opened, and Tobey stared at her. He clearly just stepped out of the shower, wearing just a shirt and boxers, hair wet and spiking in all directions. He looked tired more than surprised when she pushed past him into the room.

He shut the door and turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised in question.

Julia perched on the edge of the bed, nodding her head towards the door. "The couple in the room next to mind are having a very good, very loud time."

He made a face, but said nothing as he walked around the bed and sat on the other side. He remained uncharacteristically quiet, leaning back against the headboard on the side of the bed he had clearly claimed.

"Well?" Julia ventured, when it became obvious he wasn't going to speak.

Tobey tilted his head, meeting her eyes and shrugging. "What?"

"Aren't you going to swap with me?"

He rolled his eyes and slid down deliberately, pulling back the covers and slipping under them. He turned and faced the opposite wall, his back to her. "You can stay or you can go back there, but there is no way I am moving."

Julia opened her mouth, ready to argue (the fact that he hadn't even attempted to fight her on this felt somewhat insulting) when Tobey unexpectedly reached out and hit the switch on the wall, plunging the room into darkness.

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself," he retorted blandly. "Either shut up and get in, or head back over to the orgy."

It really wasn't much of a decision. She absolutely knew she wasn't willing to go back to lying alone in the dark, listening to obnoxiously loud sex for the rest of the night. Still, she made a show of huffing and muttering for a while before she got under the covers.

Tobey made no move to invade her space when she turned and settled herself in the bed. Though his back was to her, she could feel the warmth radiating from him and it took a good amount of self-control not to move closer.

Even from the other side of the hallway, if she listened hard enough she could still hear the loud giggles and moans of the Sex Fiends. In the silence of the room, she wondered if Tobey could hear them, too. She considered asking him, but he was so quiet that she thought he might have fallen asleep. She paused, listening in the darkness, and sure enough, his breaths were deep and even.

He wasn't a peaceful sleeper – he twisted and mumbled and at one point turned over, so that he was facing her in the bed. His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks; damp hair fell against his forehead, and she was struck suddenly by how incredibly young he looked.

His incoherent mumbles were difficult to decipher, but occasionally she could make out bits of words; "no" and "can't" and she wonders about what significance it might hold, that everything in his subconscious is a negative.

The space between them was slightly less now, though not uncomfortably so – if anything, Julia found herself looking for excuses to close the gap. He was asleep, she reasoned, and so wouldn't notice if she were to consciously shift a little closer.

Maybe it was loneliness, but something in Julia had been longing to get a little closer to him ever since he'd first begun to pull ridiculous car tricks and grin at her like he knew just how impressive he was being.

Something in him clearly enjoyed responding to praise, and something in her wanted desperately to give it to him. He seemed like he got very little of it.

A particularly loud moan from across the hall jolted her back from her thoughts, and appeared to stir Tobey as well. His eyes fluttered a moment, focussing blearily on Julia's face. He didn't seem confused about her presence in his bed, despite having just woke up.

He blinked, then smiled. She returned it, knowing well that there was a definite softness in her expression to match the one she could see in his. No grins, no raised eyebrows or eye-rolling. No car, even, to drift suddenly and wrench them apart.

As quickly as it began, the moment passed. His smile became a smirk, and he rolled onto his back and spoke to the ceiling. "You weren't lying. They're having a ball over there."

Julia hummed her agreement, unable to pull herself from the moment. It was already past midnight, and she still hadn't even begun to fall asleep. She could see Tobey slipping back into unconsciousness already.

Before he could fall asleep entirely, however, Tobey stretched his arm out across to her. Julia looked at it, then at him, blinking in confusion. His eyes remained shut, but she could see a small smile playing on his lips. It was an invitation, one which she regarded with suspicion.

Tobey wasn't mean, but she wasn't entirely convinced that this wasn't going to be some kind of last-minute joke at her expense.

Finally, cautiously, she allowed herself to move closer to him. It was warmer on his side of the bed, which was already an improvement. He wrapped his arm loosely around her, and she needed no more encouragement to press against his side, seeping up his body heat and sighing, softly.

His grip around her tightened momentarily, some semblance of a hug, she imagined. It was short and sweet and felt like a promise without words.

It was much easier to fall asleep this time, even to the soundtrack of the stamina-laden Sex Fiends.


End file.
